Red One’s Bruce Willis & Die Hard Tribute Explained

The red one recently hit the screens. The action comedy film tells about the rescue mission of Santa Claus, who is kidnapped by a villain. Apart from the intriguing plot, there was one aspect of the film that excited the viewers. It was an Easter egg related to the iconic 1988 action thriller Die Hard. So how did Red One pay tribute to the Bruce Willis starrer?

Here’s everything you need to know about the tribute to the ’80s classic.

How is Bruce Willis connected to Dwayne Johnson’s Red One?

Red One’s ending shows an interesting scene of Santa Claus played by JK Simmons. The scene serves as an homage to Bruce Willis’s 1988 film Die Hard. Die Hard features an iconic image of the main character of detective John McClane, played by Willis.

It shows him crawling through the vents and trying to escape Karl Vreseki at Nakotami Plaza. The scene becomes more exciting with McClane trying to see through the openings with a lighter and delivering the popular line, “Come out to the shore, have a few laughs.”

A similar scene is used in Dwayne Johnson’s Red One with the Santa Claus, when he sneaks into houses to hand out presents. Santa also crawls through air vents to enter houses and meet the children.

This callback definitely brought a big smile on the face of the audience, especially fans of the 1988 action flick. Johnson and Red One’s director are also happy about the film. As a result, their love of the classic must have inspired them to include the Easter egg.

Johnson also has great respect for Bruce Willis, as the two collaborated in the 2013 film GI Joe: Retaliation. During a promotional event for the film, Johnson even showered Wills with praise. He stated at a British press conference, “Bruce Willis is the ultimate man’s man…Bruce and I have been friends for a long time” (via cartoon movie). Apart from Johnson, Wills has worked with JK Simmons in the 1997 film The Jackal.